TWTKCD gets reviewed in JMWW

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So happy to find this thoughtful review by Ashley Begley for That’s When the Knives Come Down in the latest issue of JMWW—here’s a peek:

“Not many people admit to feeling empty, to feeling like there is something more out there. Morgan not only writes about it, he tells us straight….It is only after letting the stories seep into our bodies that we begin to grasp what Morgan is saying. And we realize that we want it; we want time that has been stolen from us. We want space to love and hate and feel….We want more. So don’t wait. Don’t let yourself get away. Start the chase—it will be terrifying, but oh so worth it.”

You can read the full review here, and order a copy of TWTKCD here.

Posted in: Dolan Morgan, Press, That's When The Knives Come Down

Preorder your copy of ANATOMIES today!

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Matt Bell says, “Few story collections cover so much territory, and the ones that try rarely do it so well. Intense, gorgeously written, both funny and heartbreaking, Anatomies will make its obsessions yours, thrilling you with McCarty’s unique vision of the world.”

Jac Jemc says, “The range of Susan McCarty’s stories is so wide, you won’t be able to look in every direction at once. Give yourself up to the thrill of being blindsided again and again.”

Scott Garson says, “These stories are marvels of craft and life: they follow our wordless intensities, opening naturally, from the inside out. What a collection we have in Anatomies. Can I say it again? What a collection.”

Melanie Rae Thon says, “Anatomies is a virtuoso performance by a writer unafraid to strike her readers with despair or destroy them with giddy laughter….If you long to be awakened by the glorious intensity and miraculous expansiveness of human consciousness, let these seductive, revelatory fictions transport you.”

And we say, the time has come: The presale Anatomies has officially begun! We’ve got incentives for every budget, and they cover everything from informative pamphlets to trips to New York to tours of an Iowan alpaca farm. Regardless of which you choose, you will not want to miss this book. Order your copy today!

Posted in: Anatomies, News, Susan McCarty

Matt Bell weighs in on ANATOMIES

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Anat_cover_excerpt_rgb_webMore great news for Susan McCarty’s collection, Anatomies!

It makes me so eager for June!

“Susan McCarty’s Anatomies is a fine debut, by a writer seemingly out to prove she can do anything, her stories as varied as they are accomplished, moving effortlessly between subjects and voices and forms. Few story collections cover so much territory, and the ones that try rarely do it so well. Intense, gorgeously written, both funny and heartbreaking, Anatomies will make its obsessions yours, thrilling you with McCarty’s unique vision of the world.”

— Matt Bell, author of In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods

Check out all the praise, as well as a synopsis on the Anatomies page, here.

Posted in: Anatomies, News, Susan McCarty

Dolan Morgan’s Treatment for Writer’s Block

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If you’re reading this, odds are, you’re a writer. To that end, you’re probably acquainted with writer’s block.

You’re probably also aware of the many ways in which writers attempt to stave off writer’s block.

Our very own Dolan Morgan recently shared his DIY treatment at the Story Prize blog.

An excerpt:

Now when I have writer’s block, I follow a strict regimen that I think many others could benefit from. First, I remain ever vigilant for symptoms and signs. With every new word, paragraph, or edit, I take stock of my surroundings and consider my mind and body. This must be done holistically, as things aren’t always cut and dry in life. To be safe, I go immediately into action if two or more of the following circumstances present themselves while writing:

  • Persistent checking of social media.
  • Discoloration around mouth and lips.
  • Hands that smell like chemicals, such as white out or mercury.
  • Burns, stains, and odors on my body (or even clothing, desks, laptops, and other objects in the area, especially paper).
  • Vomiting, labored breathing, drowsiness, confusion, or other deviations from my usual routine.

You can read the rest here. And, while you’re at it, you can also order Dolan’s short story collection, That’s When the Knives Come Down, here.

Posted in: Dolan Morgan, That's When The Knives Come Down

Kind words for Susan McCarty’s ANATOMIES

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We know the new year just started, but it’s hard to wait for summer when we know Susan McCarty’s Anatomies is on the way!

The latest blurb, this time from Scott Garson:

“Susan McCarty is deeply engaged with questions of how we live, and while she offers no answers, at least of the simple kind, she leaves me gripping her book with a somewhat mind-blown appreciation. These stories are marvels of craft and life: they follow our wordless intensities, opening naturally, from the inside out. What a collection we have in Anatomies. Can I say it again? What a collection.”

— Scott Garson, author of Is That You, John Wayne?

Posted in: Anatomies, Press, Susan McCarty

Two new reviews for TWTKCD

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Glowing praise continues to come in for Dolan Morgan’s That’s When the Knives Come Down!

Two of the latest reviews, in Entropy and American Microreviews:

“Dolan Morgan’s That’s When the Knives Come Down is a collection of short stories that seems to have missed almost everyone’s ‘Best of 2014’ list. This is a shame because its true place is at the top of these lists for its passion to discover new territories. Morgan is a brash talent not interested in running over ground already covered by Lorrie Moore, Lydia Davis, George Saunders and other luminaries with experimental flair. Morgan seeks something different, something along the lines of a lost continent to name after himself.” — William Lessard, Entropy

“This is a book full of strangeness, and strange books can come apart pretty easily if they’re not coming from an author with a careful control of his subject matter.  That’s When the Knives Comes Down doesn’t come apart; instead, it takes an obverse, often thrilling tack in its defiance of what we normally think fiction is supposed to do.” — Zach VandeZande, American Microreviews

Order your copy of TWTKCD here!

Posted in: Dolan Morgan, Press, That's When The Knives Come Down

Release party for AFFORDED PERMANENCE

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Please join us on Thursday, January 22 to celebrate the release of Liam Day’s debut poetry collection, Afforded Permanence!

Featuring live music by Colin O’Day and readings from Krysten Hill, Danielle Jones-Pruett, Randolph Pfaff, Daniel Evans Pritchard, and Liam Day! Hosted by Carissa Halston.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Thirty poems inspired by Boston’s MBTA bus routes, Afforded Permanence chronicles the travels of a lifelong Bostonian and the passing lives of the people who ride alongside him.

RSVP at Facebook (where our lives are lived online)

 

READER BIOS

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Liam Day has been a youth worker, teacher, assistant principal, public health professional, campaign manager, political pundit, communications director, and professional basketball player. His poems have appeared in Slow Trains, apt, and Wilderness House Literary Review. His op-eds and essays have appeared in Annalemma, Stymie, The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and The Good Men Project, where he is the Sports Editor.
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Krysten Hill is originally from Kansas City, MO, and currently lives and teaches in Boston, MA. She received her MFA from UMass Boston. She has featured poetry at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Cantab, U35 Reading Series, Mr. Hip Presents, Literary Firsts, and The Encyclopedia Show Somerville, among others. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Muzzle, PANK, apt, Amethyst Arsenic, ROAR, Write on the DOT, and Oddball Magazine. Her greatest desire is to form a collective of women poets who travel around teaching the power of voice to the girls on front porches who wonder what that aching in their chests is all about.

 

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Danielle Jones-Pruett is a recipient of a 2014 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award. She received a B.A. in English and psychology from Jacksonville State University, and an M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Best New Poets 2014, Beloit Poetry Journal, Cider Press Review, Southern Poetry Review, and many others. She currently lives in Salem, Massachusetts, with her husband and sons, and is program coordinator for the Writers House at Merrimack College.
 
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Randolph Pfaff’s poems and essays have appeared in Poet Lore, Barrelhouse, PANK, and H_NGM_N, among others. He edits a literary journal called apt and runs a small press, Aforementioned Productions.
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Daniel Evans Pritchard was born and raised in Quincy, with family roots in Dorchester and Roxbury, and is a graduate of both Boston College and BC High. Poet, translator, publishing professional, and critic, he is the founding editor of The Critical Flame, an online journal of literary criticism, as well as digital marketing advisor to AGNI magazine and a board member at VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. His work can be found in Little Star, Fulcrum, The Battersea Review, and elsewhere.
Posted in: Afforded Permanence, Events, Liam Day, MBTA

Dolan Morgan interviewed for BOMB

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“All of the pieces in That’s When the Knives Come Down are the product of accident and luck and time, but only as outcroppings from the moments when I felt most exasperated by my own impotence and inability to do anything. You plan and fall short, and you outline and fuck up, and you wish and want, and then you don’t so much give up as you give in. You stand atop a teetering pile of your own absurd expectations and survey the dumb landscape that surrounds you, then don the cupcake costume and offer up the warm lemon hand wedge to the universe. I have to let go of what I want from a story and try in turn to deliver what the story itself wants or demands. Which is an important distinction.”

That’s a small bit from a great interview between Dolan and J.T. Price, now up at the BOMB Magazine site. Check out the whole thing, which includes Dolan’s thoughts on nothingness, face removal, and meaning[ful/less-ness].

Posted in: Dolan Morgan, Press, That's When The Knives Come Down